The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-03
WORK FOR CoNsULs.

WORK FOR CoNsULS.
Strange Duties They Sometimes Perform-A
Strange Case Unearthsd at Florence.
Special to the Indianapolis journal
WASHINGTON, July 2-''No one who has not
had practical experience has any idea OF the
various duties. which consul representing his
country abroad is required to perform" said
DR.. St Clair the able chief the consular bureau
of the State Department, to your correspondent
yesterday. ''Not only have they to look after
the commercial interests of their country, but
they have to attend to some of the queerest
kind of requests from their countrymen at
home. It mas more than once been the case
that consuls have besn applied to to pur-
chase peculiar animals found in the country
to which they accredited, all the way from
ele phants TO rare kinde of lizards. Very fire.
quently they ara asked to collect number of
specimens of the shells peculiar to their part
of the world. Only a short time ago we re-
ceived request from a gentleman in Kentucky
asking that the consul at Barcelona. in Spain,
procure for him fine specimen of the native
ass, for breeding purposes. the gentleman being
under the impression that the animal attained
to a large size in Spain. The request was for
warded, and the Kentuckian has since
ceived very fine animal of tho donkey
quests outside OF the purely commercial
duties of the consul are OF purely private and
family kind If son, daughter, husband or
wife goes astray or if information is required
of the whereabouts of person OF any degree of
relationship to the inquirer in a foreign country,
application Is at once made to the representative
of this country nearest to the place whore the
missing person is supposed to be, and the con-
sui is asked to look him up. Some very start
ling romauces have been unearthed in this way
through the consular agencies. That was
strange case which was unearthed some time
ago in Florence, Italy, by Mr. A. Schuyler
Crosby. who was then United States consul at
that place. One day he was conducting party
of Americans through the principal places of
interest in the city, and among the places visited
was the insane asylum. AS the party was
going through the wards ono of the inmates of
the institution suddeI called out to Mr..
Crosby: ''Oh, sir, you American. are
you nota For Gods sake come here and listen
to my story" Mr.. Crosby went to the cell from
whence the piteous appeal came, and saw
behind the bars woman much emaciated but
apparently sane. He listened to her story, and
after making inquiries, set himself to work to
procure her release. in which he succeeded
after a great deal of trouble. The womans
story was follows:
She was bor6 in Mobile Ala, of wealthy
parents, and being attractive in appearance she
had a number of suitors for her hand in mar
riage One day an italian came to the city
He was handsome, and wrote the prefix count
before his name. He soon got himself intro
duced into the best circles of Mobile society.
and by his pleasant and courteous bearing be-
came great favorte among the ladies of tho
He at fho
house of Miss -. the subject of this story,
and intimacy began to ripen- into love on the
part OF the young girl. Her parents did not ap-
prove of the match, but the handsome italian
portrayed in glowing terms the wealth of his
affection for her and the beauties of the lovely
Florentine home which ne wished her to become
the mistress of. At last his entreaties were
successful, and the young girl married to
the count" secretly. When the girls parents
heard of it they were enraged Her father
fused to have anything to do with her, and in
stead of giving he's the fortune he had intended
to be hers. settled on her the sum Of $4,000
year. The young couple started for Europe.
but it soon became apparent to the wife that her
husband was not only not in love with her. but
that his only object in marrying her was to pro-
cure her fortune, and having failed in that
through the anger of her father had DO more
use for her. Shortly after reaching Florence
the count" had three physicians called
in, and they made examination of the young
girl, much to her surprise aud terror On the
following day a covered wagon came to the
door, and she was told to get inside. When she
refused, she was siezed from behind and rudely
bound and bandaged. She tainted, and when
she recovered she found herself in an insane
asylum. There she remained for over two
years. until she was found by Mr. Crosby. Mean
while the husband, who had caused her incar-
ceration, wrote home to the girls parents that
she was very sick, and described the expense hs
was putting himself to in order to take proper
care of the girl he loved so well. The father
was too proud to allow him to bear the full ex-
pense of his daughters illness, under the cir
cumstances, and the annual remittances contin-
ued to como along. The Count" paid $500 to
the asylum for the keep of his wife. and lived
in good style. from the remaining $1,000. AS
soon as the news reached Mobile of tho true
state of affairs, however the remittances sud
denly stopped, and the young girl was received
home with open arms. The count is still liv-
ing in Florence, but has had to resort to other
means of earning living
DAN LOCKWOOD.